


I Don't Belong Right Here

by ahunter8056



Series: When Darkness Comes I'll Light the Night with Stars [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), The Last of Us
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Crossover, Ellie and The Doctor would totally be best buds, Parallel Universes, Swearing, The crossover that no one asked for but here it is anyway, puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:01:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25630258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahunter8056/pseuds/ahunter8056
Summary: When the Doctor arrives on an abandoned, overgrown street in a parallel universe, he investigates what happened on this version of Earth. He is soon confronted with the horrifying reality, when he is saved by a man and a girl. Is the truth of the situation too much for even the Doctor to fix?Aka the Doctor meets Joel and Ellie during the first game.
Relationships: Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Series: When Darkness Comes I'll Light the Night with Stars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936768
Comments: 25
Kudos: 40





	1. A Post-Apocalyptic World

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!
> 
> Thank you for clicking on this story! I haven't written anything since the beginning of the year, so this short story is my way of easing myself back into writing. First time writing for The Last of Us, so I hope I can write these characters to a good level.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy, and hopefully this doesn't suck. :)

A lone figure strode down the long-abandoned street. The houses and shops lining both sides empty for decades, the foliage overgrown. The Earth reclaiming the manmade structures back to nature.

The man’s brown overcoat swished over the dusty concrete as he continued walking, even as the warm glow from the late summer sun bore down on him. It was setting, and within hours the abandoned street would look even more sinister than it did now.

“Where’s she brought me to this time?” the man wondered aloud to himself. He genuinely didn’t have any idea where his marvellous machine had transported him. There was no mistaking it. He was lost. And unlike most people, that absolutely fascinated the Doctor.

To him, the joy wasn’t in the destination, his enjoyment was derived from the journey. When his sentient timeship, the TARDIS, sent him hurtling unexpectedly into a parallel universe, the Doctor had no idea what he would find there. He could have immediately taken off back to his own universe, but what was the harm in a little bit of exploration? If only he knew how dangerous this world was, he might not have stayed.

At this point, it was easy to see that he’d landed on Earth. Even with all the overgrowth, the architecture and damaged road signs denoted that this was a parallel version of an American street in the twenty-first century. It was clear that some type of catastrophic event had occurred to cause the locals to abandon the street. The prospect of discovering what had happened and how this parallel version differed from his own Earth filled the Doctor with excited anticipation.

However, he couldn’t escape the fact that the atmosphere was eerie. He was used to an Earth with bustling cities with humans living their lives at every turn. Not this dead silence hanging like an ominous cloud.

Reaching a hand into his inside coat pocket, the Doctor extracted a cylindrical gadget. He placed his thumb on the activation button, causing his device to emit a buzzing noise as the blue tip shone through the surroundings.

It wasn’t long before a chilling chorus of monstrous shouts and sinister clicking sounds echoed in the distance, causing the hairs to stand on the Doctor’s neck.

“Maybe not,” the Doctor muttered to himself before he turned his sonic device off, placing it back in his pocket. It wasn’t so much that the Doctor was afraid. At this point he didn’t know enough about this world to know if there was anything to be scared of. But it would be wise to move with caution. Something caused this area of the town to be deserted. It could still be hanging around.

Apart from attracting attention, he had set his gadget to scan for human lifeforms. It had detected hundreds of them in the local vicinity. But there was something different about the readings. They were human…but with a little extra. However, if he had dissected the readings further, he would have realised that there were two readings which were purely human. And not too far away either.

As he proceeded further down the street, the footsteps of his converse kicked up dust as they echoed on the cracked cement. All the while a multitude of questions bounced around inside the Time Lord’s mind. What were those strange noises which sounded both human and inhuman at the same time? Why had the TARDIS brought him here? What had happened on this version of Earth? And more importantly: was he a little overdressed for this climate?

The bell jingled as the Doctor creaked the door open to a disused music store. “I love a little shop,” he said to himself before taking note of the dismal sight before him. Rows upon rows of records and CDs throughout the shop, all caked in layers of dust. One aisle had collapsed entirely, plastic and metal debris scattered about the floor. A pang of sadness filled the Doctor’s heart. All this music sitting here neglected, with nobody around to enjoy it.

After moving through the music shop, the Doctor saw something he did not expect. Further down the alleyway behind the building, he saw a solitary person with their back to him. And they sounded as though they were in pain. Hunched over, twitching sluggishly and letting out a never-ending combination of bone-chilling moans and groans, it sounded like they needed a doctor.

“’Scuse me,” the Doctor called out. When the humanoid form turned, quick as a cat, to look back at him, he wished he hadn’t.

It was clear just by looking that this was no ordinary living human being. It had been once upon a time, but not anymore. The skin was unnaturally pale for the climate. The eyes were bloodshot to the extreme, giving them a dominantly red appearance with an unmistakable orange glow. Wounds dotted around its face, with blood predominantly around the mouth. There appeared to be fungus growing on the face. The result was that of a nightmare, a warped version of a human. The Doctor had seen plenty of horrors throughout his nine hundred years of travel throughout time and space. But the horrifying sight confronting him right now? It was definitely nearing the top of the list for things he hoped to never see again.

The creature flailed its arms momentarily upon recognising the Doctor’s presence before it let out an incomprehensible shout of aggression and began to run, making a beeline towards him.

Taking it as his cue to leave, the Doctor turned and began to do one of the things he did best. He ran. His converse thudded down the concrete as he sprinted as fast as he could down the alleyway back onto the main street. He was used to having to run fast, but the creature tailing him seemed to run with reckless abandon, the blood trickling from its open wounds not slowing it down.

Unfortunately the Doctor took a millisecond too long looking behind him, his curiosity getting the better of him. The inhuman human lunged forward and grabbed hold of him, gnashing its teeth as it tried to take a bite of the Time Lord.

The Doctor and the creature vied for control, the struggle lasting for several seconds. With all the strength within him, the Doctor managed to push the creature back in a last-ditch effort to escape.

Before he could turn away to escape, an almighty blast boomed, making the Doctor’s ears ring from the loud noise. Gore splattered right in front of him, covering his face with blood and guts. As he wiped the remnants of the human from his face and torso, the Doctor sensed that he was no longer alone.

“Holy shit Joel!” a young female voice exclaimed. “Do you always cut it so close?”

“You wanted me to save him. Just be glad I did, okay?” a rough older male retorted, a harsh edge to his voice.

After blinking his vision clear from the blood haze, the Doctor spotted two people walking towards him. A man and a girl.

The man’s greying hair was unkempt, a clear sign that he didn’t spend too much time grooming, further expressed through his scraggly beard. His muscular build was covered by a faded purple plaid shirt and jeans, which were adorned with a multitude of scuff marks and flakes of dirt.

The size difference between the two strangers was immediately apparent, the girl standing almost a whole foot smaller than the man. Her auburn hair was tied back in a ponytail. If he had to guess, the Doctor would place her as fourteen years of age. Freckles coated her face, with a scar on her right eyebrow. She wore a zipped up pink and white jacket, with dirty jeans and much to the Doctor’s delight, converse.

Both wore rugged backpacks which looked like they’d seen heavy use. The Doctor couldn’t help but notice that although one might assume the two to be father and daughter, their body language did not suggest that they were overly familiar with one another.

“The hell you doin’ out here?” the man turned to the Doctor, his Texan drawl evident even in his irritated tone. “You don’t look like you’d survive outside a QZ.”

“Oh I just…” the Doctor started, trying to find a credible explanation, “got lost.”

“You just got lost?” the man scoffed. “You just wandered out of your quarantine zone by mistake?” His expression was incredulous. Not that the Doctor blamed him, it was a fairly weak explanation, and he still didn’t know enough about this version of Earth to know if it was plausible enough.

“Oh, the QZ!” the Doctor exclaimed in realisation, putting two and two together with a grin. “Yep, that’s me, I make a habit out of wandering where I shouldn’t.”

Clearly the Texan did not appreciate the levity. Unwilling to push his patience, the Doctor thought he’d better probe for information. “So I heard her say your name was Joel, right?” Instead of giving confirmation verbally, Joel turned to the girl, his scowl making it known that he didn’t appreciate his name being thrown about around a complete stranger. “I’m the Doctor, and you are?” he directed his question to the girl.

“Uh,” she started, looking at Joel for his approval. When he gave it with a nod, she turned back to the Doctor. “Ellie.”

“Nice to meet you both!” the Doctor said joyfully. “And I have to say, good choice of footwear Ellie. Snap!” he gestured down to his own converse.

A smile stretched across Ellie’s face. “Finally I meet someone with style! It’s a breath of fresh air after traveling with this old man,” she thumbed over to Joel. Her voice made it clear that it was a playful jest, but Joel failed to even crack a smile.

“Ellie,” he snapped exasperatedly before turning back to the Doctor. “So you’re a doctor huh? Must be plenty of work around. You movin’ from QZ to QZ, patching people up as you go?”

“No, I’m not that kind of doctor,” the Time Lord responded.

“What other kind is there these days?”

“Speaking of ‘these days’, where is everyone? And what was wrong with that person who attacked me?”

The looks on both Joel and Ellie’s faces were ones of incredulity, as though the Doctor had just told them that unicorns were flying through the air. It was clearly a preposterous notion that anyone could be unaware of the situation, which led the Doctor to believe that it couldn’t be a recent development.

“I don’t know what you’re tryin’ to pull,” Joel started with a stern look on his face in an obviously defensive tactic. “But don’t play dumb with me.”

“I’m not lying to you, I literally do not know what has happened here. So tell me, because maybe I can help.” The Doctor could see that his plea was falling on deaf ears, but that wouldn’t stop him.

Joel scoffed. “Ain’t a person alive who don’t know what’s out there.” Before the Doctor could protest, there was a metallic click and he found himself staring down the barrel of a revolver. “So you best stop lyin’ to me.”

The Doctor was used to being held at gunpoint, but he just hoped that there was still time to persuade the pair of his genuine intentions. If they couldn’t take him at face value, then that said something about how harsh this world must be. Even as he put his hands up slowly, he was still racking his brain for something he could say to not further anger Joel. Something about the man’s demeanour told the Doctor that he would absolutely follow through with the unspoken threat.

“Joel,” Ellie said gently, clearly in an effort to coax the older man. “I think he’s telling the truth.”

“The hell he is!” Joel snapped.

“Look at his clothes!” Ellie fired back with just as much fire in her voice. “Have you ever seen a hunter dressed like that?”

“…no,” Joel conceded reluctantly, though his aim never wavered.

“You’d have to be really stupid to wear a long coat like that against the infected,” Ellie continued, gesturing to the Doctor’s long brown overcoat.

“Oi!” the Doctor protested.

After looking between Ellie and the Doctor, Joel finally put the gun down with a huff.

“Thank you.” The Doctor was still somewhat alarmed, but he made sure to let his genuine appreciation show in his voice and facial expression.

“You try anything, I’ll put a bullet in your head.”

“Noted. Now tell me, what-”

“Infected!” Ellie yelled. Both the Doctor and Joel turned to see a horde of the inhuman creatures running towards them, hostile intent in their intelligible shouts and bared teeth.

“We need to move,” Joel elbowed the Doctor to bring him out of his intrigued trance as he watched and studied the creatures.

“Run!” the Doctor agreed as he took off running, following Ellie and Joel’s lead.

He could have taken off in the opposite direction to flee back to his TARDIS to safely escape this parallel world, but he would forever be curious of what had befallen this version of Earth if he did. And if there was one thing that had always both proved a benefit and a detriment throughout all of his lives, the Doctor always followed his curiosity. This was no exception, as the trio sprinted through the backstreets, the horde of infected hot on their heels.


	2. No Place for Pacifism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joel, Ellie and the Doctor escape the horde of infected chasing them. Tension erupts between the two men when the Doctor's pacifism and ignorance about the infected is made clear. Joel finally tells the Doctor of the Outbreak, much to his horror. Written from Joel and Ellie's POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all!
> 
> Apologies for the long wait. I hope this chapter being over twice as long as the opening makes up for it. 
> 
> Please enjoy, and I hope to see you in the end notes! :)

“There! Through that alley!” Joel shouted above the cacophony of pounding footsteps and animalistic shouts from the horde of infected chasing them.

He and Ellie had been making their way through the town on their way to Jackson County to find his brother, Tommy, when they’d come across a strangely dressed stranger resisting an attacking Runner. Joel was ready to use the situation to his advantage. If the Runner was busy trying to maul the stranger, he and Ellie could sneak by without having to fight off yet another of their number.

But Ellie had other plans. She’d instantly protested Joel’s suggestion and insisted that they help him. It was of course, wanting to avoid bringing further infected down on them by arguing out in the open which caused him to reluctantly save the stranger at the last second. At least, that’s what he told himself. It definitely wasn’t the fact that he’d been steadily warming up to the girl who’d saved his life a few times now. Nope. Not at all.

And so, the pair continued to sprint through the backstreets, the mysterious Doctor in tow. They’d been chased for a few minutes now, and their muscles were beginning to ache. They needed an escape route, and quick. There were simply too many infected to risk taking them on with the various weapons strapped to Joel’s back.

“In there, quick!” Joel shouted, pointing towards the large metal door several yards ahead of them. Having reached the end of the street, and not enough time to climb the metal fences on either side, the big building was their only option.

Joel grabbed hold of the closed metal door and tried to pull it open. But even with all the strength he had, it wasn’t enough. The door was locked firmly shut. And the horde of infected were getting closer, seconds away from closing in on them. They needed to escape, but this damn locked door was hastening their demise.

“Out of the way!” the Doctor shouted. He pulled a cylindrical tube out of his inside jacket pocket and a second later, the click of a button was heard. The tip shone blue, accompanied by a buzzing sound. A metallic click came from the lock of the door, allowing the Doctor to pull the door open with ease. “Go on, in in in!” he frantically advised. There was no hesitation on the part of Ellie and Joel. The crowd of monstrous creatures sprinted closer. They were inches from the door when both Joel and the Doctor worked to push it shut again.

Joel watched with a mixture of confusion and interest as the mysterious Doctor directed his device at the door, the metal mechanism clicking locked once more. Joel had never seen such a device, before or after the Outbreak. Who the hell was this goddamn stranger?

“What the hell is that thing?” Joel gestured towards the cylinder in the Doctor’s grasp.

“This?” the Doctor asked, holding up his gadget. “This is my Sonic Screwdriver.”

“It looks kinda cool,” Ellie admitted, the Doctor beaming at her affirmation for his precious companion. Joel on the other hand, was completely apathetic, not sharing the same wonder and appreciation for new things like the teenage girl in his care. He simply scoffed, before looking for an exit.

The infected were pounding relentlessly at the door, but thankfully the metal was far too strong for them to break through. They had entered a large empty warehouse, all of the windows boarded up. Sure, they could hole up here. But Joel would rather find somewhere further away from the horde of nightmarish creatures following them, while they still had a chance to escape as long as they were occupied.

“Come on,” he said before walking towards the exit, not bothering to check if the two were following him. He was confident by this point that Ellie would follow his directions. And if this fool of a Doctor didn’t want to join them? Well that was not his problem and would make one less person to protect.

As it happened, both Ellie and the Doctor joined Joel in his exit, leaving through a door on the other side of the warehouse, walking back out into the sunset. Fortunately, they had managed to escape undetected as they had hoped, the infected still trying to break down the warehouse door. If they ever managed it, their prey would be long gone.

* * *

After several minutes of walking, they were confident they had gotten far enough away to risk talking. Apart from Ellie, who in typical fashion, decided to lighten the mood by continuing her long-standing quest of mastering her most important life skill: whistling.

Joel made his displeasure evident not through his words, but with an exasperated sigh. Truth be told, he didn’t actually mind Ellie being herself. The more time he spent around the girl, the more endearing her habits and demeanour became. But that scared him. Painfully aware that they were growing closer the more time they spent in each other’s company, the more heart-wrenching it would be if anything happened to her. And he couldn’t have that. Not again.

“Not a whistling man?” the Doctor asked Joel after his loud sigh.

“Not when we’re out in the open,” Joel covered up the real issue with a half-truth.

Ellie took a cautious look around them, before whistling even louder. Her lips curved into a smile even as she continued to whistle after seeing the look of irritation on Joel’s face.

“That’s quite good!” the Doctor complimented her, a childish grin on his face. “Been practising long?”

“I only got the hang of it a few weeks ago. But soon I’ll be the Whistle Master!” Ellie declared with great aplomb, her voice growing into almost a shout to add emphasis.

“Ellie!” Joel barked, “How many times do I have to tell you? Keep your voice down!”

“Okay,” Ellie mocked in the deepest voice she could muster, the result sounding somewhat strangled. Out of the corner of her eye, Ellie saw the Doctor grinning at her, clearly enjoying her levity.

“But still, you’re well on your way,” the Doctor continued the conversation as though it hadn’t been interrupted. “Took me fifty years to master whistling.” The sudden looks of puzzlement from both Joel and Ellie at the outlandish statement from someone who had the appearance of a man in his thirties, didn’t seem to faze him. “I was a slow learner.”

Joel scoffed. “If you’re fifty years old, then I’m the King of the United States.”

“Oh,” the Doctor replied with genuine surprise. “America has a king, does it?”

“No.” The answer was curt. Joel didn’t have a lot of patience to begin with, but this absurd man was insisting on trying it even further. Joel was still trying to figure out what this ‘Doctor’s angle was.

Ellie clearly didn’t share his annoyance with the stranger. In fact, she seemed to enjoy his company, chuckling at the exchange. But whereas the Doctor was acting like he had the brain of a fourteen-year-old, Ellie actually was fourteen. Yet she still behaved more grown up. Too grown-up, in fact. And that panged Joel’s heart. She had to grow up quicker than she deserved to. But such was the world they live in.

“What’s that accent?” Ellie asked, her voice full of curiosity. She’d never heard its like before, and anything new always made her excitable.

“He’s British,” Joel answered for him before rounding on the Doctor. “Which brings me to ask what the hell you’re doin’ here. Did you sail all the way here?”

The Doctor seemed to consider this for a moment before humming and nodding in affirmation. “Mhm yeah, I came here in my ship. Lovely blue thing she is, very sturdy. Well,” he quickly cocked his head to the side and back again, “I say sturdy, I think she’d hold up if those things that look like humans but aren’t tried to break in.”

Yet another instance of the strange man’s behaviour continuing to baffle Joel. The threat of infected trying to break into a safehouse was a very real and scary possibility. That’s why it was always of the utmost importance to make sure every potential entrance was secured and setting up defences wherever possible. It was not ever a topic to be taken lightly. Yet here this man was, his voice light-hearted and cheerful, sounding more like he was trying to turn it into a joke. There were some things in this world that no sane person would joke about.

Joel had plenty of time to consider the man as he walked mostly in silence, listening to the Doctor and Ellie’s enthusiastic conversation the rest of the way, as his mind tried to make sense of the Doctor’s demeanour.

* * *

The three continued walking for quite some time, until they spotted what looked to be an easily defendable building in the distance. The signage denoted it as the town hall. Although everything seemed quiet and abandoned, there were still active trip wires around every entrance and all the windows were boarded up. Assuming there was nobody inside, it would be a relatively safe place to hole up and plan their next steps. Something that was sorely needed, what little light that remained would soon be taken over by the inky darkness of night.

A short walk away from the town hall, they turned a corner, to find an idle infected, hunched over. Except, it wasn’t like the Runners they’d been chased by earlier. No. The consistent judder, constant clicking sound and enlarged fungus growing out of its face, just about visible from the side, made one thing clear. Joel had to physically pull the Doctor down behind a crumbled wall before the bumbling moron got them killed.

“Goddamnit, Clicker up ahead. Stay here, I’ll sneak up on it,” Joel whispered, more to the Doctor than Ellie.

“And do what?” the Doctor questioned.

“The hell you think I’m gonna do?” Joel dared to raise his voice a fraction, his brows furrowed in a scowl. “I’m gonna kill it.” His plan was said matter-of-factly.

Killing the infected by this point was routine for him, having spent twenty years doing just that. Even at the start of the outbreak, he’d been too focused on protecting his…family, that he’d never given a second thought about putting down those monsters. There was no point getting tangled up in the fact that they used to be living humans before the Cordyceps took a hold of them. Folk who wasted time pontificating over that always ended up dead. Morality had no place in such a dangerous world.

Now it was the Doctor’s turn to scowl, taking on a glare that served as a stark contrast to the cheerful idiot they’d been saddled with thus far. “If you look up ‘murder’ in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of me with the caption: ‘over my dead body’!” he hissed back, anger rising in his tone. It was a wonder that the Clicker hadn’t somehow picked up on the hushed voices.

“Guys!” Ellie hissed, drawing the attention of the two arguing men to her. “You two have issues you can fucking sort out later. But right now, we have to get past it.”

The two men shared equally baffled looks after having been scolded by the teenage girl. Of course the voice of reason would be the fiery, foul-mouthed, sarcastic yet kind-hearted girl.

Before Joel could aim his gun, the Doctor leapt over their cover, shuffling over quietly towards the Runner. Joel groaned in exasperation. This dumbass was going to get them killed if he carried on like he was.

“Hello!” Joel heard the Doctor call out, followed by aggravated clicks and screeches from the alerted Clicker. The Doctor didn’t seem fazed as it whirled round, face almost unrecognisable as human. It still held the same basic head shape, but most facial features were long gone. Part of the mouth was just about visible, but instead of eyes or a nose, there was a fungus growth mushrooming out. As the Doctor watched the fungal plates sway and unfurl, he began to understand that that’s where the clicking sound came from. For whatever reason, he didn’t seem concerned by the fact that the creature’s humanity had been replaced by the aggressive fungus. “Talk to me.” As Joel looked up, the Clicker screeched, beginning to flail its arms as it charged towards the Doctor. “Ah well, I tried.” Just as the Clicker was inches away, the Doctor managed to whip out his sonic screwdriver and activate the device, sending an ear-shattering warble of high-pitched noise towards the infected. Joel and Ellie managed to cover their ears to protect themselves, but the Clicker had lost the intelligence to do so, screeching in pain as it flailed around on the spot.

Joel let go of his pained ears just long enough to quickly draw his pistol and shoot the suffering monster in the face. The spattering gore was enough for the Doctor to stop emitting the excruciating noise. He turned around to fix Joel with a furious expression, rage burning in his eyes.

“No, you didn’t have to kill it!” he shouted at Joel.

“I did if you wanted to stay alive!” Joel fired back, equally angry with the apparently braindead Doctor. “Alertin’ an infected without a single weapon on you? That’s pretty goddamn stupid!”

The Doctor marched closer until he and Joel were face-to-face. The taller man squared up, refusing to back down. He wouldn’t for anyone, but especially not for this foolish man seemingly intent on getting himself killed.

“I told you, no murder! How can I understand what has happened if you blow the brains out of every one I try to talk to?”

Without warning, Joel leaned forward and grabbed hold of the Doctor’s suit collars, pushing the man back against a wall. While the Doctor looked momentarily stunned, his gaze hardened to make it clear that he wasn’t going to be intimidated. Though at the same time, he made no effort to force Joel off.

“If you want to get yourself killed, do it on your own time. But if you think you’re puttin’ her in danger, I’ll put a goddamn bullet in you myself!” Joel’s eyes lingered on Ellie after gesturing towards her, the Doctor doing the same. Both men had been so caught up in their confrontation, they hadn’t noticed Ellie taking tentative steps towards them, as though she’d been thinking of breaking it up. But now, just a look at the young girl told the men that fighting each other when neither had yet betrayed the other, wasn’t a good idea. There was already enough senseless violence in the world without creating more.

“Joel…” came the soft voice from the girl. It wasn’t tentativeness out of intimation, but gentle enough that Joel might take heed. The concerned look in Ellie’s eyes was silently urging, pleading with him to let go, that this confrontation wasn’t worth it. And the more Joel thought about it, the more he realised that she was right. There had to be a reason why this man believed his own story. A reason for how he could have no knowledge of the infection which had almost wiped out humanity, and still plagued the few who had survived. But for now, he would play his game. Joel released his grip on the Doctor before stepping backward and taking a long, exhausted and exasperated sigh. The exertion of the day had taken a toll, and he was ready to get some rest before continuing tomorrow.

“If it were possible to talk to them, don’t you think we’d have done that already? But they can’t. They’re not people anymore, they’re mindless creatures wearin’ remnants of their former selves. And when we get inside, we’ll continue this conversation.”

“That’s something we can agree on,” the Doctor nodded.

The two men then made their way towards the town hall gates without another glance at each other, a bewildered Ellie following them.

* * *

“So…how did you manage to stun the Clicker?” Ellie asked after several minutes of uncomfortable silence, the air thick with palpable tension. They were very near the town hall now. Hopefully there weren’t any infected waiting for them in the darkness of the seemingly abandoned building.

“Well,” the Doctor’s light-hearted tone had returned after the confrontation with Joel. “Most creatures in the universe would have trouble carrying on with their senses being overloaded. And because I’m guessing that Clicker was blind, which stands to reason it would be overly sensitive when it comes to sound. Which is where having a sonic device comes in especially handy.”

Joel huffed as he was forced to listen to the fool ramble on. The sooner they could be rid of this Doctor, the better.

“But, Clickers see using sound. How could sound hurt them?” It clear from the look on her voice and the tone of her voice that Ellie was confused, her brow furrowed.

“You’re sixty percent water, you can still drown,” the Doctor pointed out.

“Shut up,” Ellie laughed. “He’s totally fucking with me, right Joel?”

Joel turned around, scratching his beard. “Uhh, I don’t remember the exact details, but he’s right. We’re mostly water.”

Ellie turned back to the Doctor with a surprised expression, still trying to fathom the discovery. “Man, that’s fucking weird.”

The Doctor shrugged a shoulder while his expression said it all. “Told you.” His lilt was deliberately high-pitched, making it clear that he wasn’t actually being smug. That didn’t stop Ellie from flipping him the bird with a smirk. That smirk didn’t waver after his expression turned to disapproval at such a crude gesture from a young girl.

“If you two are quite done with the little biology lesson,” Joel’s gruff voice cut through, “we’ll search this place, get holed up for the night, and we can have our little talk.”

As she followed along, Ellie couldn’t help but feel concerned on the Doctor’s behalf, while also wondering how the hell anyone could be against putting down the terrifying creatures that stalked the world. It was clear to anyone that no matter the fact that the infected used to be - and still looked like - people, those people were long gone. Most of the people she had come across were either lost to the perpetual misery of life in this world, or had a stick up their ass. She’d never seen anyone who’d matched the Doctor’s cheerful attitude and chirpy personality.

Especially in light of recent events, she thought it would do her and Joel good to have company again. But what if they lost him too? He was certainly going the right way about it, throwing caution to the wind like a complete dumbass. She wasn’t sure she could handle seeing another person turn right in front of her eyes.

Either way, she was glad that her and Joel were finally forming a solid connection, making it clear just how far the two had come since they’d met. The Joel she’d met wouldn’t give a damn about her desire to not see unnecessary bloodshed. Yet they’d gotten to the point where she was able to talk him down from shooting a man who’d yet to double cross them. She had begun to understand that there were plenty of people around to prey on the innocent. But something was different about the Doctor. She was going to work out why this man behaved the way he did, insisting on ignorance.

But for now, they could all do with finding a safe refuge for the night.

* * *

“And this started twenty years ago?!” the Doctor asked, horror not just in his voice, but etched across his shocked face.

After securing the (thankfully empty) town hall, the Doctor had been eager for the promised information. While he normally wouldn’t indulge anyone he didn’t trust, there was just something about this stranger that Joel just couldn’t put his finger on. And so, he had begun to answer the Doctor’s questions on the fungus that had affected the population.

“Yup,” Joel nodded with a weariness to his voice. “Outbreak Day was September 26th, 2013. The day the world got turned upside down. It was a goddamn mess. Families torn apart, innocent folks slaughtered in their own homes.”

The Doctor’s face was a mixture of sympathy, disgust, grief and anger. It was clear that the man was horrified. And as much as he had yet to trust the man, actors weren’t exactly in demand these days. There was no mistaking the abject horror the Doctor was currently feeling.

“So that makes today?”

“August, 2033,” Ellie answered as she passed the tins of dried fruit she’d scavenged from the room’s cupboards to the other two. She paused with a cock of an eyebrow like she was unsure of herself. “Right, Joel?”

“Yeah, that’s right kiddo.” He gave a subtle smile that would go unmissed to anyone except her before turning back to the Doctor. “You understand that there ain’t much call for rememberin’ exact dates nowadays.”

“Right, gotcha,” he responded, though it was clear from his vacant expression that he was still processing everything he had learned.

Joel had told the stranger everything he’d asked of. Now the Doctor knew that at least sixty percent of the world’s population had been either infected or killed by those already infected before there were no longer organisations left to research the effect the Cordyceps had had. Who could say what percentage it was now? For what it felt like, it could be closer to ninety.

He’d told how the world’s survivors either lived in military controlled quarantine zones, isolated communities, or had formed their own groups to prey on any innocents wandering into their territory. The world they had known was dead and gone, and nothing was going to bring it back. For twenty years, they’d struggled to establish a new normal. What little semblance of normality resurfaced was often quashed in civilian uprisings, with many quarantine zones left long abandoned or taken over by the rebels.

The only thing that was certain in this world was that venturing outside of quarantine zones was a decision rife with danger. America alone was full of towns with scores of infected roaming the ruins. Presumably the rest of the world must be as well.

“So,” the Doctor finally broke the silence that had fallen over them. “What are you doing here?”

Ellie looked like she was about to open her mouth to speak when Joel got there first. “Now I think that’s enough from us. You owe us some explanations.” He leaned closer to the Doctor to look him right in the eyes. “How is it that you can be walkin’ about, claiming to know nothing of the world you live in?”

“Ah, well that’s a fair question actually.” Any sense of levity from the Doctor evaporated as he furrowed his brow. “But I’m not sure you’ll trust my answer.”

“The world is crawlin’ with folks who have lost their minds, society is dead and gone, and I come across a Brit in America without the slightest clue of the infected. Tell me Doctor, what is there left for me to not believe?”

The Doctor took in a deep breath, seemingly mulling over his answer. He stayed silent for several seconds. And Joel waited. If he was going to finally get an explanation out of this man, it better be good.

“I…I’ve come from a parallel universe,” came the eventual reply.

Both Joel and Ellie fixed the Doctor with incredulous stares.

“What?” Ellie was the first to ask, her voice high-pitched with disbelief.

“Now look here Doc, I ain’t never seen a man quite like you.” Joel’s voice then dropped dangerously low, sounding much more intimidating. “But you can quit with the bullshit.”

“Trust me, what I am telling you is the truth. With everything you’ve told me about this world, do you really think I would tell a lie like that?” He took a pause before sighing exasperatedly, running a hand through his hair. “Human beings, you’ll deny anything that doesn’t fit in your frame of reference.”

“Hang on,” Joel glanced downwards, his features screwed up in confusion as he tried to process before looking up again. “’Human beings’?” His laugh was completely devoid of humour. “You tryna tell us you’re an alien now as well?”

“Yes, I am,” the Doctor stood and put his hands in his overcoat pockets, Joel rising to meet his gaze.

“No way,” Ellie interrupted defiantly, crossing her arms with her gaze fixed on the Doctor, a scowl set on her face. She’d taken a liking to the man. He’d been funny, hadn’t taken himself too seriously, and been an entertaining man to talk to on the walk down. But even she, a girl who saw wonder in the most ordinary things such as being in the outside world for the first time in her fourteen years of life, could not believe his fantastical tale. Some things only existed in comic books.

“Hold on, I should have some things to prove it to you.”

The Doctor then began digging inside his overcoat pockets. He dumped a vast array of possessions on the floor, including a pocket watch, an egg timer, several paper clips, the list just went on and on.

“What’s that thing?” Ellie asked after the Doctor pulled out a strange rectangular device. A mess of wires snaked around it, with a rotating dish on the top, releasing an assortment of beeps, dings and whirs. It looked roughly the size of two cell phones, like she’d seen in faded advertisements on walls she and Joel had passed on their journey, stacked on top of each other.

“Oh this?” the Doctor responded with renewed enthusiasm, a joyous grin stretching across his face. “This is my timey-wimey detector. I won’t go into it’s most important function, but I modified it to boil an egg and download comics.”

“You read comics too?” Ellie gasped, excitement and passion filling her surprised voice. “Awesome!”

“Ohhh Ellie, we make quite the team you and me,” the Doctor beamed. “I never know when to stop reading.”

“I wouldn’t either, if it weren’t for the problem that they’re all ‘to be continued’!” she huffed with a pout, showing her childish side with mock anger at the problem.

The Doctor chuckled as he continued to empty his pockets. A quill, a tie, various types of batteries, all dumped onto the wooden floor.

“How the hell did you fit all that in there?” Joel piped up, disbelief etched across his face. There was no way all of those could fit into his coat pockets. No way at all.

“They’re bigger on the inside,” the Doctor responded somewhat dismissively with a shrug of his shoulders, as though that was a common feature of a pocket.

“Now you best stop messin’ around before-“

“Ah, gotcha!” the Doctor exclaimed as he pulled out a rolled-up newspaper. He strolled over to a table and unfurled it, Joel and Ellie following him to read.

What was there stunned both Ellie and Joel into momentary silence as their eyes poured over the page. It was a newspaper of the New York Times. But what stood out was the date. November 23rd, 2023. The main feature was an article covering a recent celebration. The most notable thing about it was the fact that it was accompanied by a photograph, showing the city as intact as Joel remembered it being decades beforehand, crowds of people lining the streets. Not as the overgrown, partially destroyed mess it most likely was now. But how could this be?

It was entirely possible that this Doctor had gotten a dummy newspaper, complete with a pre-Outbreak photograph, printed to fool folks like him into believing his fantastical tale. But why? What was there to be gained from such a scheme? The only rational explanation was that maybe, just maybe, this outlandish stranger was telling the truth.

“Holy fucking shit!” Ellie gasped, her voice betraying the fact that she was also beginning to believe the Doctor’s story.

Joel turned his back and walked away, scratching his untidy beard, deep in thought. As his footsteps receded from the other two, Ellie’s voice called out to him.

“Joel?” The one worded question contained so much more information in the subtleties in her voice that only came detected from understanding and trusting one another. Unasked questions of ‘is this real?’ and ‘are we going to trust him?’.

“I don’t know,” Joel answered, his back still to them. As much as he continued trying to make sense of the proof put in front of him, he just couldn’t. But if there was any chance that the Doctor was in fact telling the truth, then that meant there was a way off this godforsaken world. Away from the constant threat of being killed or infected. Away from having to do whatever it took to survive, no matter the consequences. Away to a universe in which Ellie would be able to enjoy being a teenager, instead of spending her days killing murderous humans and infected alike.

With a hand carefully placed on his hip, Joel slowly made his way over to the other two. Using his superior reflexes, honed to perfection over the decades of struggling to survive, Joel whipped out his pistol, clicking the safety off as he pointed the barrel right into the Doctor’s face.

Alarmed, the Doctor instantly put his hands up. Even Ellie was taken off guard, gasping and taking a step out of the line of fire, unsure of how to react until Joel explained himself.

“If you’re telling the truth, then that means you’ve got a way off this world. You’ll take us with you.”

As Joel continued his cold stare into the Doctor, he watched the various emotions flitter across the Doctor’s face. Shock, accompanied by a hint of helplessness, washed away by the realisation. Joel knew his message was clear. The Doctor knew just as well as he did that he’d be helpless against the hordes of infected standing in their way without them. If he wanted to get to his ship, he needed them. And now, Joel had set his demands. After twenty years of misery, Joel was ready to leave this universe behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading to the end of this chapter! I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please consider leaving a comment. :)
> 
> What did you think of this chapter? Was that a fun cliffhanger? Will the Doctor agree to take Joel and Ellie back to his universe? Is it too late for him to cure the Cordyceps of this parallel world? 
> 
> So many questions, which will be answered in the next - and final - chapter. These three had best be ready. They won't just be facing Runners and Clickers in their journey back to the TARDIS.
> 
> Until next time.


	3. Escaping the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Held at gunpoint by Joel, the Doctor tries to diffuse the situation, with Ellie's secret being revealed to him. Faced with the truth of the fungus, the Doctor makes it clear where he stands. Tensions mount between the three, just in time for another fight against the infected.

“I can’t let you do that,” the Doctor answered. He thought he’d finally started making headway with the two people he’d stumbled across, getting them to trust and believe his story. But that had all fallen apart after an idea had come to Joel’s mind, causing the larger man to accost him. Just like that, the precarious bridge of trust had collapsed, all through the desperation to escape through the way out which had suddenly appeared.

The Doctor couldn’t really blame Joel. From what it sounded like, he’d been through twenty years of hell in a post-apocalyptic world which had wiped out the majority of the human race, turning them into aggressive creatures beyond redemption. That’s why he didn’t hold it against him, the barrel of Joel’s pistol still aimed right between his eyes.

But whether his life was at risk or not, there was simply no way the Doctor could let these two escape their universe. Even with as much sympathy as he had for the pair. This world had been ravaged by fungus, and there was not enough information to know for certain whether it was possible for the two to carry that infection across to his universe or not.

“The hell you ain’t,” Joel threatened, his intimidating glare hardening further than it already was. “You brought us a way out of this nightmare, and we’re takin’ it.”

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor’s face showed just how much it pained him to deny the golden solution to the troubles of a man and a girl who had clearly been through so much. Regret shone through his brown orbs and the pained downturn of his mouth. “I am so so sorry. But you’ve given me just a little glimpse of what this fungus has done. And if there’s even the slightest chance you can carry it across, I can’t let you.”

His words had been weighted, a genuine sense of remorse in his voice. Glancing across to Ellie, he could see the conflict playing out across the young girl’s face. Her lips were wobbling, her eyebrows furrowed. It was clear that she didn’t know what to think. But then all of sudden, it appeared as though she’d come to some sort of conclusion, her expression firm as she looked back up at the pair.

“Joel…I can make a difference here.”

The man in question glanced over at Ellie with puzzlement. His gun was still aimed at the Doctor, who made no attempt to move. His interest was far more on seeing how this conversation would pan out than his own personal safety. Ellie had intrigued him from the very beginning with her complete opposite personality from Joel, and he was curious as to why she was not siding with the grizzled older man.

“What the hell are you talkin’ about?” Joel’s voice was one of disbelief rather than anger. He wasn’t just doing this for him, he was doing it for Ellie.

“Joel, we’re looking for the Fireflies for a reason: so I can fix it. If we run away now, that can’t happen.”

“Ellie,” he warned, causing even more confusion in the Doctor. He could tell that the two were hiding something. Something that Ellie had been close to revealing. Joel dropped his arm, ignoring the Doctor as he marched over to the girl who was proving to be wise beyond her years. “Ellie, that don’t matter. Who knows if it can even be cured? But if he’s tellin’ the truth, you have the chance at a normal life, like you would’a had before this mess. A life you’ll never be able to experience here no more.” His eyes were now shining in a way that Ellie had never seen before. Joel had always kept his emotions to himself. The man with a rough around the edges personality and demeanour tended to use the fewest amount of words possible, his voice always gruff and unemotional. But right now, the look in his eyes and slight quiver in his voice was begging Ellie to go along with it.

“Stop with the bullshit Joel!” Ellie snapped, taking the two by surprise. Her voice was of firm conviction, making it absolutely crystal clear that she was going to budge on this. “I’m immune for a reason, and there is no fucking way I’m walking away when I can help people and make my immunity count in this shitty world.”

“She’s-what?” the Doctor exclaimed in surprise, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. It had been clear that Joel and Ellie had become too absorbed in their own argument that they’d forgotten they weren’t alone. And now the secret was out.

Joel sighed in frustration. He’d always told Ellie to keep her immunity - or as he referred to it, ‘her condition’ – hidden. But now that the kid had blurted it out, there was no point in hiding it.

Ellie now realised her slip, expression frozen in the shock of being caught-out. She swallowed harshly to ground herself. “I’m immune. That’s where we’re going, to find the Fireflies so they can make a cure from me.”

“And the Fireflies are…who?” the Doctor questioned, now far more calm without a gun pointed in his face.

“A little militia group,” Joel answered. “When the infection hit, they formed to try an’ restore the world to what it was, comin’ up with scheme after scheme. Nothin’ worked though. Every test they ran failed, and the world just kept on getting worse and worse.” It was clear from the disdain in his voice that Joel had no particular love for the organisation. His expression then shifted, the tiniest glimmer of hope on his face. “But, they ain’t never had no one with an immunity before.”

“Right!” the Doctor exclaimed with a sudden burst of energy, bounding forward from where he had remained leant against the wall. “So, Ellie and Joel off to save the world!” he proclaimed in a cheerful grin, his voice chirpy and full of optimism. “But what I’d like to know is, how do you know you’re immune, Ellie?”

“I uhh,” she started the uncomfortable topic, fidgeting nervously with the sleeves of her jacket. Her eyes were downcast, focusing on the material rather than looking at the man she was speaking to. “I got bitten.” The teen then rolled up her sleeve, presenting the bite mark to the Doctor. He pulled a pair of rectangular frame glasses from out of his pocket. After putting them on, he took a hold of Ellie’s wrist, examining the wound. The skin looked like it had done its best to heal naturally, but without any real success. It was still broken, with little bits of fungus having grown from the angry red marks where the skin had been punctured.

The Doctor’s eyes never left the bite mark, taking in every little detail. Producing the Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket, he directed it at the wound, scanning with the distinctive buzzing sound and blue light from the gadget’s tip. “How old is this?” he asked, his eyes still narrowed on the patch of skin, concentrating intently.

“A couple months now,” she answered, looking deeply into his face, the steady buzzing of the Sonic Screwdriver humming away in the background. There wasn’t any hint of disgust like she had been expecting. But rather, his brows were furrowed in deep fascination, as though her wound was something new and undiscovered for his mind to unlock, necessitating the intense concentration.

Having completed his scanning, the Doctor pulled the now silent Sonic Screwdriver away, now holding it up to his face. Apparently, there was some invisible connection between the man and his device, because before long the Doctor’s expression lit up. “Ohhh, look at that!” he exclaimed. “That molecular structure, I’ve got chills!” he enthused, his voice high pitched with excitement, rambling with the fervour of a man on a sugar rush. “Similar to Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis,” he glanced over to a bemused Joel and Ellie, gesturing with his hand to emphasise his point before glancing back to his Sonic Screwdriver. “Except it looks like it skipped a few generations and evolved ahead of schedule, making the leap straight from strictly affecting insects to affecting humans. This fungus is amazing-”

A loud clearing of a throat from across the room got the Doctor’s attention. He looked over to an unimpressed Ellie, who thumbed over to a borderline furious Joel, looking on the cusp of a threatening outburst. Joel’s eyebrows were narrowed dangerously, his eyes burning with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. Looking down, the Doctor could see Joel’s hands curled into fists, knuckles tightly flexed. Now the Doctor understood where he had gone wrong. In rambling about his exciting enlightenment like the science geek he was, he had forgotten the fact that this very fungus had left the world Joel had known a dystopian nightmare. Now was not the time to marvel about it from a biological standpoint, or ever.

“Ohhh, I’m _really_ sorry,” the Doctor said, the look of one catching themselves but too late etched across his face, eyebrows raised, eyes wide, mouth hanging open, genuinely apologetic. “I-that-that was very rude of me, wasn’t it?”

The tense moment hung in the air for several seconds of painfully awkward silence. You could cut the tension with a knife, and Ellie would certainly give it a stab with her own trusty switchblade if she could. The Doctor’s insensitive words hadn’t cut her too deeply, given the fact that she’d never known a world without infected, but she knew it wasn’t that way for Joel. He’d had his whole world turned upside down and inside out for the past two decades. Someone making light of the abhorrent fungus which had destroyed his world, whether intentional or not, was not something likely to sit well with him.

Instead of exploding in anger (and really, could Ellie blame him if he did?), Joel’s posture stiffened briefly before he grunted and let his muscles relax again. As if to say he wasn’t pleased with the Doctor’s behaviour, but he understood it. After a few more moments of tense, awkward silence, Joel finally spoke. “You’re a doctor, anythin’ you can do about it?”

Ellie then remembered the conversation they’d shared upon meeting the man who’d been a stranger. When both her and Joel had refused to accept the Doctor’s assertion that he had no knowledge of the infected.

“You said you would help,” the teen recalled. She noticed how his shoulders seemed to slump, a look of deep sadness spreading across his face. But why?

He paused for a moment to answer, filling the time by taking off and pocketing his glasses. “I did,” the Doctor uttered, his voice so low it could be mistaken for a whisper.

“So fucking help!” Ellie snapped. But it was obvious even to the Doctor that her tone wasn’t full of anger, but moreso fear. Fear of being disappointed after being given hope. He didn’t want to crush the teenager’s hopes, but he had no choice.

“I’m sorry.”

From the moment the words left the Doctor’s lips, he could see the devastated look form on Ellie’s face. It pained him to speak those words, but he wouldn’t lie to these people. Even to give them hope. There was nothing he could do.

“Really, I am so very sorry. With all of my hearts.” The Doctor didn’t fail to notice that Joel began to move closer, a scowl deep set on his face. “But whatever this mutation of fungus is, its natural. There are no signs of tampering, whether by a mad scientist or an extra-terrestrial invasion. Its not alien; it’s evolution.”

“And why the hell should that make any difference?” Joel spat with a restrained fury in his voice.

“Because that makes it a historical event. As terrible an effect this fungus has had on this world, I can’t interfere. I have to let history take its course.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Ellie finally spoke up, the teen looking thoroughly pissed off. Not that the Doctor could blame the pair of them for being upset. He was dismayed himself for being helpless to act.

“There are laws of time. Laws which need to be obeyed at all times, or the ripples created can-“

Having had enough, Ellie took the Doctor by surprise, shoving him forcefully. “Fuck that!” He could see her eyes shining with tears threatening to spill, noticing how the girl made an effort to blink them back. “Don’t tell us you can help and then take that help away.”

“Honestly look, I really, _really_ wish I could help. Believe me I do. If I had the power to change time without repercussions, I would avert every war in history. But I can’t. That’s the burden of being a Time Lord. Knowing when I can and can’t interfere.”

A heavy frustrated sigh from Joel made his reaction perfectly clear. “Assuming any of this nonsense you’re spoutin’ is true, you still got a way to get us out of here to a world without infected.”

“I told you, that’s not an option,” the Doctor raised his voice slightly. It wasn’t full of anger, but had an element of exasperation to it, aware that they were going round in circles. He understood their desperation to escape. He’d only been there a couple of hours, and he was already well aware of how fraught with danger the world was, human civilisation reduced to a handful of quarantine zones and scattered communities. It broke both of his hearts to witness a version of Earth in such dire straits. But he had a responsibility to make sure the same thing didn’t happen on his universe’s Earth, much as it pained him to deny them.

“You’ll never make it back to your ship without our protection,” Joel asserted with accusatory gaze, the statement ringing perfectly true, and they all knew it. As resourceful as the Doctor was, with a track record of surviving whatever odds were thrown his way, he knew just how dangerous the infected were. Armed with only a Sonic Screwdriver, he wouldn’t last long enough on his own. He couldn’t talk his way out as he normally would. As much as he abhorred guns and violence, they were the only means of survival in this world. He needed Joel’s help.

“Which is why I’m asking, politely, that you please accompany me, where I can-“

“Where you _will_ let us inside,” Joel interrupted, his voice bristling with anger, the fury rolling off him in waves. “If not, I’ll make sure you can’t stop us.”

With that statement, Joel marched towards the exit, his footsteps heavier than normal. Her mouth hung open in a stunned expression at Joel’s brazen behaviour, an ice-cold chill to his words. She recovered enough to follow and call out to him as he neared the door. “Joel, we can’t just-“

“Enough Ellie!” he stopped in place, turning around to face her. “We are going to the Doctor’s ship, and we are leavin’.” His angry words were spoken without hesitation, absolute conviction making it clear to Ellie that this was his final decision, and there was no chance of persuading him otherwise.

Ellie remained in place, looking out at the door for several seconds after he’d left. She’d seen and heard about some heinous acts by Joel. But this, what he had suggested? This was a new low. He was really was ready to rob and murder their new…friend? Acquaintance? Whatever the Doctor was to them, he didn’t deserve to be cast aside and left for dead in a foreign universe. If the man she had begun growing close to went through with this plan, she wasn’t sure she could feel safe around him anymore.

“It’ll be fine, I promise,” the Doctor’s words snapped her out of her thoughts, turning around to see the man looking at her with a concerned expression on his face. But surely that must be concern for his own life rather than her mental state, Ellie thought.

“I won’t let him kill you,” Ellie shook her head, her voice quivering with anxiety. She’d been able to stop Joel from hurting others in the past. She should be able to do the same here. But then again, Joel had never been this desperate before.

“Thank you Ellie,” the Doctor smiled. How could this man be so chirpy despite Joel’s death threat? “But that won’t be necessary. I’ll talk to him.”

“And if you can’t talk him out of it?”

“One step at a time Ellie.” His mouth then split into a grin. “Now then, allons-y!”

The Doctor then strolled out of the room, leaving an even more confused Ellie staring after him.

* * *

“Sshh, get down!” Joel hissed as the other two caught up to him outside, crouched behind a sandbag. “There’s a bunch of ‘em up ahead.”

The Doctor risked looking over, spotting a group of infected a few feet ahead. He could see six Runners. Two of which were hunched over, while the other four stumbled around. His ears soon picked up the sound before he noticed saw the Clickers. One jerking about in one spot, while the other two seemed to be patrolling opposite ends of the street. That made nine infected blocking their path.

It was clear from the low-pitched grunts and moans that the Runners were in constant pain, no doubt from the fungus working its way out of the brain to further disfigure the face. As much as the very thought of destroying life filled the Doctor with disgust, he had to admit that perhaps it was better to put them out of their misery.

“We need a distraction to get ‘em all in one place,” Joel whispered. “Ellie, you got anythin’?”

“Shit, I forgot to pick up a brick!” the girl responded, her eyes wide after realising she’d forgotten such a basic survival tactic. It was typical for Joel and Ellie to carry either a brick or a glass bottle when they found them for situations such as this. A situation which was part of their daily routine. In all the excitement since meeting the Doctor, it had slipped the teenager’s mind. But then it occurred to her – so had Joel.

“Hmph,” Joel huffed. “Alright then, I’ll-“

“Allow me,” the Doctor interrupted. Digging a hand into his overcoat pocket, he pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. Lifting his head to take another look, he spotted a payphone close enough to the infected to prove effective. Of course, it was likely out of regular use even at the time of the outbreak, but it should still work for his purposes. He pointed his gadget in its direction before activating his device. The now familiar buzzing sounded in the area, getting the attention of the infected. All of whom let out inhuman shouts before advancing towards them. The Doctor extended the end of the glowing blue tip, until something happened which surprised Ellie and Joel. 

The payphone exploded in a shower of sparks cascading down to the ground. The Doctor’s plan was made immediately clear. The infected stopped running towards them and turned to run towards the now destroyed payphone. Runners and Clickers alike all bunched together, which was exactly what Joel wanted.

Without making too much noise, Joel rummaged around in his backpack, pulling out a glass bottle filled with liquid. But the most notable thing about it was that a rag had been stuffed inside. Using a lighter to ignite, Joel aimed and quickly threw the Molotov Cocktail at the group.

The shatter of glass caused an instantaneous bright burst of flames, setting both the patch of ground and infected ablaze. The distinctive smell of burning flesh was accompanied by a series of shrieks as the infected flailed about in agony, collapsing one by one. As bloodthirsty and beyond redemption as the infected were, it still pained the Time Lord to hear them suffering. The Doctor and Ellie remained crouched down behind the sandbag, not wishing to see such a gruesome sight. Joel on the other hand had clearly seen enough in his time to stomach it, watching to ensure that they were all dead.

Two Runners had managed to put out their flames and had now spotted Joel’s head peaking out. The enraged shouts as the aggressive creatures began charging towards them caused Ellie to pull out her pistol, not even needing to look to know they were in danger.

Before the Doctor even had chance to protest, Joel and Ellie shot the Runners dead before they could reach them, the gory and partially burned corpses crashing to the ground. All was quiet, save for the crackling flames fizzling out at the source of impact and now charred bodies of the dead infected.

The three made their way out from behind their cover, walking over to investigate the bodies. Joel and Ellie got to work scavenging the remains for anything that might prove useful, while the Doctor just stared at the horrifically burned remnants of flesh and fungus, deep in silent regret. It was clear across his face though, his eyes narrowed, lips curled in disgust.

Ellie watched cautiously as Joel approached the man, hoping that there wouldn’t be another disagreement on what was clearly a sensitive topic for the stranger.

“I hope you understand that there was no way round this,” Joel’s words were understanding, yet his gruff tone carried a warning to not test his patience with another argument for pacifism. “You gotta kill to survive in this world, whether you like it or not.”

The Doctor’s expression softened somewhat before turning to face Joel. “No, I know. As much as I hate to admit it, these people are beyond saving at this point. There’s nothing I can do to help them. From what I’ve learned, they’re not living; they’re suffering. And I can’t let them be a danger to you humans that are left.” His words had a bitter edge to them. Not bitter in judgement of Joel, but because of the fact that he had to assist in destruction in order to help Joel and Ellie survive. Self-defence or not, he was still helping to kill living beings. The only way he could rationalise it was the fact that they threatened the lives of anyone they came across.

At least with the warrior species he regularly had to defeat to save threatened civilisations, they made a conscious decision to destroy. He didn’t have to grapple with morality quite the same way as he was doing on this world. But these infected, their aggression was a fact of their biology. They couldn’t help it. Who was he to destroy them for something they couldn’t control?

“Now you gotta understand why we have to leave,” Joel’s words cut through the Doctor’s thoughts, bringing him back to the present.

“Oh I understand completely.” The Doctor took a step closer to Joel, eyebrows raised. Not as an act of intimidation, but to indicate that he wasn’t going to be a pushover either. “And if it was safe, I absolutely would help you escape.” His gaze then hardened, turning from empathic to something far more firm. “But I don’t know enough about this fungus to determine if you and Ellie can spread it from this world to the next.”

The Doctor then paused, looking deep into Joel’s eyes while choosing his next words carefully. If he was going to make the desperate man understand, he was going to have to make sure his words were powerful.

“You lived through this entire outbreak,” he continued. “With everything you’ve seen, everything you’ve experienced, everything you’ve had to do to survive one day to the next. Would you ever wish that on any other version of Earth? A world full of ordinary, stupid, brilliant people. Would you risk wiping them all out and turning them into monsters just for the chance at a normal, boring life again? Because I’ll tell you something. Living here, right now, twenty years after the fact. That tells me how alive you are. This is your world. Are you really so desperate to abandon it?”

Instead of giving an answer, Joel just stood there, firm and resolute. But it was clear from his face that as much as he tried to hide it, the Doctor’s speech had given him pause. The words repeated themselves inside his brain. Was it selfish? Absolutely. But did he care, if it meant a new life away from the constant threat of infected and hunters for himself and more importantly, Ellie? What were even the chances of them even being able to carry the fungus across? He’d never been bitten, and Ellie hadn’t given anyone else the Cordyceps after being in close proximity with them. The kid deserved a far better life than the one she had here, trekking across the country to be the cure for humanity that wasn't even guaranteed to work.

Joel had been certain that they were getting away from this world when they’d left the town hall. But now, it was clear that he had some thinking to do on the way to the Doctor’s ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I did plan for this to be one long final chapter, but I decided it would be best to get content out sooner rather than later, splitting the final chapter into two. 
> 
> What did we think? Despite the way he's demanding it, is Joel justified in his actions if it means escape? Will Ellie be forced to pick a side? 
> 
> I know this chapter was pretty dialogue-heavy, so next time I'll try more action.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you thought in the comments, I'd love to hear what you thought! If you liked it, please consider leaving a kudo as well. :)
> 
> Next time, we'll have some puns and the biggest fight these three have come up against so far.


	4. Something to Fight For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie, Joel and the Doctor reach the final part of their journey. Full of puns, a lot of infected to fight, and a decision to make. Is Joel still intent on leaving their world behind to its fate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, the final chapter! Please enjoy, and I hope to see you in the end notes. :)

The silence hung thick and heavy in the air, becoming so uncomfortable that Ellie began to shift her weight around on her feet. She could almost feel the internal debate raging inside the two men.

Joel was clearly still pondering the Doctor’s impassioned speech. Ellie could practically hear the cogs spinning in his head, even after he had turned away from the both of them. Meanwhile the Doctor stood there, eyes narrowed and boring a hole into Joel’s back, waiting for a response that was unlikely to come. Not yet at least. Ellie had known Joel long enough to know that the man held firm conviction in his own judgement. Once his mind was made up, it was difficult to change. Luckily, difficult didn’t mean impossible. Ellie just hoped that Joel would reconsider his plan to abandon this world, no matter the cost.

“Alright, you two are being too depressing,” Ellie announced, reaching back to pull a book out of her backpack. Her nonchalant interruption garnered the attention of both men, who watched as Ellie opened the book and flicked through the pages, the cover on full display.

_No Pun Intended: Volume Too_

The two men’s expressions were polar opposites of each other. Joel’s was one of bafflement, irked that Ellie could think that now was an appropriate time for jokes. In stark contrast, the Doctor’s eyes lit up upon reading the book title.

“Why did the can crusher quit his job?” Ellie paused to look up at either man, a tiny smirk tugging at her lips and dancing in her eyes, as though she was about to drop the most hilarious punchline in history. “Because it was soda pressing.”

Joel let out a deep sigh of annoyance, drowned out by the Doctor’s laughter. It was crystal clear which of the two appreciated it and which did not.

The Doctor soon managed to get his amusement under control. “I love puns,” he said with a grin.

“Fuck yeah,” Ellie chuckled, her smile of appreciation showing her agreement. “Puns are awesome.” _Finally_ , after all this time stuck with buzz killer Joel, she’d found someone who appreciated jokes as much as she did. She did care for Joel, and definitely didn’t take his protectiveness over her for granted. But at the same time, she just wished he’d lighten up every once in a while, rather than being his glum, gruff self every single minute of every day. The most she’d gotten out of him in the weeks they’d been together had been sarcasm, and even that was fleeting.

“Got any more for us Ellie?” the Doctor asked.

“Don’t encourage her,” Joel huffed, frustration lacing his voice. “She already has enough to annoy me with even without an audience.”

“Psshh,” Ellie dismissed his frankly very rude critique with a wave of her hand before looking down to read another joke. “Your loss old man.” She then cleared her throat in preparation to read another undoubtedly excellent pun. “I was wondering why the ball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.”

The Doctor and Ellie shared a chuckle, while Joel kept on looking disinterested, choosing to take this moment to scout their immediate area and watch for any lingering infected in the shadows.

“I renamed my iPod the Titanic, so when I plug it in, it says ‘the Titanic is syncing.” Ellie looked up at the Doctor, forest green eyes full of confusion, further communicated with the crease in her brow. “What’s a ‘Titanic’?”

“It was a ship, a famous ship well known because it, well, sunk,” The Doctor answered. He didn’t know if the Titanic had actually existed on this version of Earth, or whether it just wasn’t considered important information to teach the next generation twenty years after an apocalyptic pandemic, but he guessed it was the latter.

“Oh,” Ellie answered, brow evening out again in comprehension. “That’s a bit mean.” She then turned the page, eyes lighting up again at the plethora of good puns on the page. “It’s hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs, because they’re always taking things literally.”

The Doctor’s guffaw proved infectious, increasing Ellie’s giggle to full blown laughter. The two continued to laugh as Joel made an effort to distance himself from the pair in order to stay focused. It would do them no good to relax, not even slightly. Not out here in the open. He would not allow himself to be lulled into a false sense of security like Ellie and the Doctor had. And with the increasing giggles from the two, the likelihood of the noise attracting nearby enemies grew even greater.

Yet for some reason, Joel couldn’t bring himself to turn around to chastise the pair. Joy was seldom felt in the world they lived in. There was a reason that Ellie usually created her own fun, whether that be through humming, whistling, reading puns or just generally being inquisitive about the old world. Normally she only had Joel to play off, who didn’t offer much in the way of banter or sharing in the joy. What Joel offered instead was safety and imparting knowledge with the abundance of questions Ellie had bouncing around her curious head. The last people she’d had around to bounce her energy off of…it hadn’t ended well. He wasn’t about to put an end to her fun, not right now.

Joel’s thoughts were interrupted as he heard the teenage girl read off another pun a few feet away. “Did you hear about the man who had his left side cut off? He’s all right now.” Ellie chuckled while the Doctor screwed his features up in disgust at the poor taste of the bitter pun. “Gross,” Ellie said through laughter. “That’s awesome.”

“Not my favourite,” the Doctor admitted.

“Well maybe you’ll like this one better,” Ellie replied, thumbing through the pages. “Let’s see…ah ha! Here we go. I bought a boat because it was for sale.” Maintaining her sight on the page in front of her, Ellie’s face bunched up in confusion. “Well no shit, of course it would be for sale-“

“Read it again,” the Doctor suggested, the look on his face and amused tone of voice suggesting he already understood both the joke, and where Ellie had gone wrong.

Comprehension dawned on Ellie’s face, her eyebrows raising with clarity. “Oh! For _sail_.” She giggled, “I get it now, that’s funny.”

“Has anybody ever had a word with you about your swearing?” the Doctor asked with eyes narrowed in judgement. Usually he’d be reprimanding anyone aboard his ship if they chose to use such a crude choice of words. But this wasn’t on his ship; it wasn’t even in his universe. As much as he disliked Ellie’s fondness for profanity, it wasn’t his place to rebuke her.

“Yeah, but I just told them to fuck off,” Ellie shrugged, her body language plain and unapologetic. “Got me a lot of detention.”

“So you still have schools then?”

“Damn near every QZ has a military school,” Joel interjected, several feet away. “Just the basics. Math, English, military drills. All they need to survive.” He narrowed his eyes in a look of disdain. “Long as they never want to leave the QZ, that is.”

“Excuse you, we did more than that,” Ellie scoffed. “We had history too.”

“Somehow I don’t think they put as much effort into that as they did trainin’ y’all to kill Fireflies.” Joel’s voice wasn’t bitter, nor did it hold any discernible emotion. It was more a matter of fact than anything.

That was something that made the gruff man a mystery for the Doctor to figure out. In the past couple of hours, the man had seldom shown any sort of emotion. The Doctor had come across plenty of grumpy people in his time, mostly with an undertone of anger in everything they did through a deep-rooted bitterness. But for Joel, there was nothing. He just did everything for the end purpose of survival. No agenda pushing him forward, he simply did whatever needed to be done to stay alive at the end of the day. The only time he’d seen emotion from him was when he’d found a potential escape. If the Doctor had known better, he’d say Joel was a broken man. But he’d never seen one so despondent fight so hard to stay alive. The man was a constant conundrum.

The sound of pages turning brought the Doctor’s attention back to the auburn-haired girl ready to read another pun. “I lost my job at the bank on my first day. A woman asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over.” A chuckle escaped the girl’s lips, though her brow was slightly creased.

Joel turned back to look at the pair. “Do you even get that one?” he directed at Ellie.

“Nope. No idea what a bank is. But if you’re dumb enough to ask someone to check your balance, you can’t get pissed when they knock you on your ass.”

“Hmpf,” Joel huffed. “See, a bank was a place where you went to store money or get some out. If you wanted to find out how much money you had, you would go in and ask to check your balance.”

“Oh, I get it now!” Ellie’s eyes widened in understanding at the joke. “But why would you trust someone else with your money? That’s so dumb.”

Joel breathed out deeply through his nose in frustration. “Kid, that’s just how it worked.”

“You wouldn’t catch me trusting some fucker with my money,” Ellie muttered, prompting Joel to shake his head. The girl always had a comment for everything.

“I’ve got a joke for you Ellie,” the Doctor brought their conversation back to one less laced with swearing. “Did you hear about the guy who tried to sue the airline company for losing his luggage? He lost his case.”

Ellie chuckled, her unadulterated joy evaporating any lingering tension in the air. “Oh man, that’s so dumb. I love it.”

“What do planets like to read? Comet books.”

The look of pure wonder and elation on Ellie’s face was only second to her gleeful laughter which proved too much for her to form words, having to take a few seconds until her giggles began to subside. The Doctor knew he’d told the right joke when Ellie’s bright smile on her lips and radiating in her green eyes, wide with wonderment, refused to fade.

“No fucking way, you got space puns??” Ellie gasped, her voice full of unrestrained delight.

“Fan of space are we?” the Doctor teased, but hope seeped through his voice. Even with this world as broken as it was, at least some worthwhile interests had endured. Given that his lifestyle revolved around venturing through time and space, it was natural that he’d gravitate towards anyone with an interest.

“Space is so fucking cool,” Ellie affirmed, passion flowing through her voice. “One day, I’ll make it up there.”

For a second, the Doctor’s grin dropped. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to take Ellie back with him, to show her all that time and space had to offer. But then realisation washed over him, knowing that there was no way he could allow anyone from this world back with him, much as he’d like to satiate Ellie’s desire to explore the universe.

To distract himself from that particular situation, he decided another joke was in order. “Why couldn’t the astronaut focus? He kept spacing out.”

Her laughter was just as genuine, her smile just as radiant as before. It was at that moment that the Doctor knew that space puns were the way to go with the young girl.

“Oh man, that’s a good one,” she laughed.

“Oh yeah? Well answer me this Ellie: how do you throw a space party?”

“Um, I don’t know, you invite a shit-ton of planets?” 

“You plan-et.”

“Oh man,” she giggled. “That’s dumb. I love it.”

“Are you two gonna be telling each other jokes all day, or are we goin’ to keep on movin’?” Joel interrupted the pair, indignation bringing out his Texan drawl. “Christ, its bad enough when its just her. The two of you are gonna get us swarmed by infected before we ever reach this ship of yours.” Annoyance permeated his tone, not to mention the scowl creasing his features.

It was then that both Ellie and the Doctor realised that Joel had a point. They’d been enjoying each other’s company so much that they’d lost themselves, completely forgetting that they were standing out in the open, in a world fraught with danger. It was like they had been too wayward souls brought together. Now that they’d found each other, they’d found something that connected them, fitting together like a jigsaw. But they’d been too busy amusing each other with puns to realise just how loud they were being with their laughter. It was entirely possible that it would attract attention from any infected nearby. As disapproving as Joel’s words were, it brought the pair back to Earth. There was no time for puns until they were safe.

“You’re right, sorry, we should keep moving,” the Doctor agreed, a solemn look briefly flickering across his face.

Ellie put her pun book back into her backpack, a pout on her face. If she had her way, she’d be hearing more space puns.

* * *

The next part of the journey was covered mostly in silence. The trio moved from street to street, luckily with no sightings of infected. Not even inside the buildings they’d checked. Luckily those buildings had a good amount of supplies to scavenge. Plenty of rags, scissors and bricks.

They were making good time. It wouldn’t be too much longer until they were right back where they first met the eccentric stranger claiming to be an alien from another universe. Was that true? Joel would have certainly dismissed it with derision at the time. But after the evidence of his own eyes from the newspaper clipping, he was beginning to believe it.

Joel kept thinking the entire situation over in his own head. He still remembered that fateful day twenty years prior when the infection arrived in full force. A blocked highway full of cars, newly turned infected chasing crowds of people through the streets to maul them like vicious animals. The loss of his daughter. Outbreak Day had changed the entire world, the first step that ignited the collapse of society as a whole. It had been twenty years of misery and a desperate battle for survival. He had had to do some heinous things in order to stay alive, things that he tried not to think about, lest he be filled with shame and self-loathing.

The Doctor’s speech still echoed around in his own brain. With the ruined world in the wake of the Cordyceps, could he really let a parallel version of Earth fall to that same fate? Was escape really worth it for the sake of a few days before he watched the same events unfold?

He looked over to the teenage girl walking beside him, eyes full of innocence and optimism like he hadn’t felt himself for decades. Somehow this girl managed to keep on being a beacon of positivity, a light in the darkness. As much as he tried to downplay it and keep his walls up, a part of him knew that Ellie was the burning candle brightening up his world.

At the exact same time, Ellie was deep in thought herself. As she noticed Joel look over to her, she shot back a glance of her own, trying to communicate her disapproval with his plan with her pools of emerald. She’d thought she was beginning to understand Joel by now. But with this? His plan to take the Doctor’s ship by force to transport them to an alternate version of Earth without infected? She’d known that Joel had a sordid past, but this would be unforgivable if he went through with it. She had a purpose in this world, being the whole fucking cure for humanity and all. Who was Joel to take that away from her, by whisking her away from this universe? As shitty as this world was, it was hers. The only world she’d ever known. She wasn’t going to give up hope and abandon it. Not when she could be the difference to fix it. She just desperately hoped that she’d be able to get the old man to reconsider.

Meanwhile the Time Lord trailing behind the pair had enough thoughts of his own running through his mind. As much as he admired the pair – even Joel – there was absolutely no way he would ever allow them to leave this universe. Not when either of them could possibly carry the fungus across. Especially Ellie, who was confirmed to be a carrier through her bite and immunity. Despite the fact that it broke both of his hearts to deny the two people the chance at an escape, life didn’t always work out that way. If it was guaranteed to be safe, he would take them in a heartbeat. But there was no time, and the longer he spent here would make it all that harder to leave them. He was still working out how he could persuade Joel to stay here and continue making their lives work, given that his impassioned plea didn’t seem to have carried enough weight to change his mind. If it came down to it, he might just have to lock them out of his TARDIS.

* * *

The sight of his TARDIS filled the Doctor with glee, a relieved smile of seeing his home crossing his entire face. But only for a second. Because that’s when he realised that there was a horde of infected between them and his ship.

The three quickly ducked back into the alleyway, out of sight. The Doctor turned to the other two. “There it is, that blue box,” he whispered, careful to not alert the shambling horrors lining the overgrown street. There were numerous Clickers and Runners milling about, as well as one type of infected he had never seen before, which was far larger than any other. Both wider and taller than a regular human, the only thing remotely human looking about it was the basic shape. Apart from that, its body looked to be covered in fungal plates. The face was much like that of a Clicker, but even more deformed by the outgrowing fungus, not even a hint of humanity left behind.

“What? _That’s_ your spaceship?” Ellie scoffed incredulously as she leaned back out to look, unable to believe that something so small would be capable of travelling between universes. There was no way they would even all be able to fit inside.

“Oi! Don’t knock it,” the Doctor fired back, offense clear in his voice.

“It looks like it would barely fit you inside, and you’re almost as skinny as she is,” Joel commented dryly, earning a scoff from Ellie.

“Yeah, I’m skinny because we don’t find enough to eat,” she shot an accompanying glare, her words said under her breath, yet still perfectly audible with their close proximity huddled together against the wall.

“We need a plan to get past them,” the Doctor broke up the argument he assumed to be more playful than anything. “Especially big fella over there. What is that?”

“We call ‘em Bloaters,” Joel explained. “Been infected for a very long time. The fungus has taken over their body so much they can use it as a weapon. So if you see it goin’ to throw something at you, you gotta move. And whatever you do, do _not_ let it get near you.”

“In other words,” Ellie turned to the Doctor. “Big fucking guy.”

Despite his aversion to Ellie’s foul mouth of a sailor, the Doctor couldn’t help but feel uplifted at her attempt to break the mounting tension.

“So guys,” Ellie hissed, mindful of a groaning Runner stumbling closer towards their position. “What’s the plan?”

“There’s too many of ‘em to take on at once,” Joel observed. There had to be at least a dozen infected shuffling about, producing a terrifying cacophony of pained moans, clicking, and a deep rumbling growl. “We’ll make our way through the side alleys, where I’ll pick’ off as many as I can to clear us a path.” He looked pointedly, more so at Ellie than the Doctor. “You two hang back, stay out of sight.”

Ellie scowled. “’Hang back’? Are you fucking kidding me? That’s so stupid! I should-“

“Ellie!” Joel snapped gruffly as loud as he dared to cut off an undoubtedly scathing tirade. “If I get more on me than I can handle, I trust you to have my back. But unless that happens, you keep yourself out of the line of sight. There’s too many of them, we need to be smart about this. Okay?”

Ellie snapped her mouth shut, glancing downwards. She was clearly none too pleased with her lack of involvement in the plan, but understood Joel’s reasoning behind it. “Okay.”

Joel looked firmly to the Doctor, who nodded in agreement of his proposed plan. With all three in agreement, Joel turned back and slipped down the alley they’d moved past earlier. The Doctor and Ellie followed him from a distance, ducking behind a dumpster as Joel crept up towards a Runner with its back to them, hunched over and groaning.

In one smooth motion, Joel stood up and reached forward, grabbing the Runner. The infected let out a surprised sound before Joel wrapped his arm around its throat, pressing his forearm more crushing against the Runner’s neck. The creature let out a choking sound as Joel eased both of their bodies down to the ground, the Runner clawing at Joel’s muscular forearm, yet unable to find purchase. Joel kept applying the pressure until it was down. One less infected in the world to threaten the living.

While Ellie remained hyper-focused on the situation before her, the Doctor found himself forced to look away at the sickening display of violence beyond the dumpster. Yet as horrific as he found it, he knew that it was necessary for their survival. That wouldn’t be enough, except for the fact that he knew that the infected weren’t really people anymore, their minds were too far gone for that. He supposed that putting them down was a kindness, to protect any future innocents who would otherwise be mauled to death by them. But that didn’t mean he had to watch, even as the sounds of asphyxiation filled his ears before dying down.

Before they had time to rest and plan their next move, a clicking sound drew their attention to the end of the alley where it met the main street. A clicker jerked forwards, walking down the alley towards them. Joel froze on the spot, crouching down as slowly as he could before moving to the side out of the creature’s path. It was lucky for them that clickers had lost the ability to see, otherwise their cover would have been blown right then and there. Quietly, Joel reached to retrieve a shiv from his pocket, before leaning forward and stabbing it right into the Clicker’s neck, blood spurting out from the fungus encrusted and blood soaked neck. A mixture of a quiet screech and gurgle came out of its open maw as Joel let it crumple to the floor, jerking a couple of times before it lay still.

Joel turned to look at the faces peeking out from the dumpster, ensuring that the two were still safe. Unfortunately at the exact moment he decided to look away, another Runner stumbled towards the alleyway, choosing to turn to look down it and pausing on the spot. Even despite its poor eyesight, the Runner spotted Joel, shouting aggressively as Joel looked back in horror at the fact that they’d been discovered, and now they were about to have the whole horde of infected on top of them.

Realising that the alleyway made for a convenient bottleneck, Joel had just enough time to lay a trap as the Runner began running towards him. Reaching for his backpack, Joel quickly zipped it open and retrieved a bottle.

Understanding what he was doing, Ellie also understood what she needed to do. She grabbed the pistol from her waistband, took aim, and fired a shot at the approaching Runner. Although she wasn’t skilled enough yet with it to get a headshot, she managed to hit it square in the chest, forcing it to stumble back from the impact. This only lasted a second though before it went right back on the attack, now mere feet away from Joel. Thankfully, the gunfire had bought her enough time to fire another bullet. This one landed right in the temple of the primal creature, sending it falling backwards limply onto the ground, blood spraying out into the air from the wound.

Ellie had provided Joel enough time to retrieve a Molotov Cocktail from his backpack. Looking up at the crowd of infected rushing towards him, he lit the rag on fire before tossing the bottle at the end of the alley, just in time.

As soon as the bottle smashed, the alleyway opening erupted into flames, engulfing the four Runners charging side by side towards them. Two Clickers stumbled blindly into the fire, screeching in pain as the fire began to eat away at their flesh. That took down the majority of infected previously in their way. Except there was one who survived the fire. Although it had been set alight thanks to the struggles of the other infected flailing about, the fire was not enough to burn away the hardened fungal plates covering its body. As it continued to roar in pain and stumble about, the Bloater remained alive.

“Agh, let go of me you fucker!”

Joel whipped his head around to see a Runner with a firm hold on Ellie, shouting incoherently even as it tried to gnash its teeth in an attempt to kill the teen. Ellie kept a hold on its arms and tried to push them away as it flailed them about, trying to punch her at the same time it was trying to bite. Ellie let out another fearful cry.

“JOEL! Get this motherfucker off me!”

Before he could reach her, an ear-splitting buzzing filled the air, forcing the Runner off of Ellie immediately. The creature opted to cover its ears - for what amounted to minimal protection - as it screeched in pain and stumbled around on the spot, unable to bear the noise. As Joel covered his own ears to muffle the sound, he looked to see the Doctor holding his activated Sonic Screwdriver, a hyper-focused scowl on his face at the mindless infected who had dared try to attack his new friend.

The unrelenting waves of high-pitched sound were painful enough to Joel and Ellie’s ears, but they proved even more devastating for the nearby infected. It made sense, given that their sense of hearing was heightened following the loss or deterioration of their other senses.

Unfortunately, as painful as the sonic waves were, they were not deadly. Eventually the Doctor stopped holding the button, a blanket of silence suddenly permeating the area. That didn’t last long, as the dazed infected quickly rallied again, making another charge towards Ellie. Fortunately, Joel had had the wherewithal to grab his revolver, shooting the Runner dead before it could reach her again.

Joel stood breathing heavily on the spot, trying to calm himself down as the adrenaline continued to pound through his veins. He was too lost in the moment that he’d forgotten about the lone infected they had yet to kill.

“Joel, look out!” he heard Ellie shout in a panicked tone.

He turned around just in time to see the Bloater reaching back to rip a fungal growth from its back. Joel’s eyebrows threatened to rise off his head as his eyes widened in realisation. With the quick reflexes he’d developed through decades of survival, he dove behind a partially crumbled wall at the last second. The air where he’d just been standing erupted into an airborne toxin as the fungal bomb hit the ground and shattered.

As the fungal abomination continued advancing, Joel retreated to the dumpster, back face to face with the Doctor and Ellie.

“Big fella isn’t happy is he?” the Doctor joked.

Joel chose to ignore the light-hearted comment. Now was not the time for levity. “Just get ready to run.” He reached back and pulled his hunting rifle from where it had been strapped to his back. Taking aim, he fired off a round at the Bloater, the gunshot echoing around the narrow alley. As the gun recoiled, the bullet slammed into the beast, tearing apart one of the hardened fungal plates on its left shoulder. This seemed to enrage the Bloater more than anything, its booming roar echoing around the alleyway.

“Move!” Joel barked, the trio taking off back down the alley. They moved just in time, as the fungal giant had thrown another fungal bomb, a cloud of death surrounding the dumpster they had just been taking cover behind. The three sprinted down the alley, all the way back onto the main street. Now that they’d wiped out the rest of the infected, it was a wide area with plenty of places to take cover around, with rusted cars and crumbled remnants dotted about.

More than that, it meant they had the chance to split up for a greater chance of survival. The Bloater would only be able to focus on one of them at a time, meaning that they could distract the monstrous creature if Joel looked like he was in danger.

At least that was the plan, until they spotted a couple of Runners and a Clicker emerging from the opposite side of the street. The Doctor groaned as he realised that using his Sonic Screwdriver had likely attracted the stragglers from nearby. The three were jerking towards more or less in single file, likely from the narrow alleyway they’d come from. That would turn out to be their downfall.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor watched Ellie crouch down to pick up a brick before taking aim at one of the approaching Runners, murderous intent in its gory face, eyes glowing with aggression. “Back off you chickenshit!” she yelled as she threw the brick with pinpoint accuracy. A loud thunk was heard as the brick collided with the infected’s face, breaking in two. Fresh blood spurted to join the dried blood already crusted on the Runner’s face. An anguished cry was heard from the rotting lips as it stumbled backward, crashing into the Runner and Clicker immediately behind it.

With the three infected’s thrashing limbs all tangled up, Ellie had bought them a couple of seconds. As she reached for her pistol, an almighty boom was heard from her right, causing her to flinch from the unexpected gunshot. She turned to see Joel wielding his shotgun, a tiny cloud of smoke pluming from the barrel. She turned back to see the group of Runners and a Clicker dead on the floor, forcibly amputated limbs having been scattered about, blood pooling around the corpses.

“Get out of the way!” Joel and Ellie heard the Doctor shout. They turned sharply just in time to see the Bloater throw his arm forward, a round object in its grasp. Eyes widened, they dove behind cover a split second before another fungal bomb hit the ground. Catching their breath, hearts hammering in their chests as forcefully as though it were itching to burst free, they glanced at each other, quickly checking each other over to ensure neither had been injured.

Joel clutched his shotgun, taking a cautious peek over the car they’d hidden behind. “Stay here Ellie, I’m gonna finish it off.”

“Joel, I can help,” Ellie hissed, her voice insistent.

Without the time to argue, and knowing just how stubborn, not to mention capable, the girl had proven herself to be, Joel huffed as he reached back to pull his hunting rifle from where it had been strapped to his back. “Fine. If I get into trouble,” Joel then raised his voice to make it perfectly clear. “And I mean only if its serious, I’m trusting you to make your shot count.” He handed the rifle to Ellie, who took it with a look of determination before taking aim at the Bloater. “Ellie-“ Joel started.

“I got this,” she replied without taking her eye off the roaring creature, her voice so full of conviction that Joel didn’t hesitate. At this point, he knew that the teen knew her way well around a gun to know that he was in safe hands if anything happened.

Gripping his shotgun, Joel stood up and walking out into the open, not making any attempt to muffle his footsteps. Blind as they were, Bloaters had tremendous hearing. As soon as Joel’s shoe kicked up a stone on the ground, the monster immediately turned towards him, bellowing an aggressive growl. It began to charge towards him, like a fungus-enhanced bull. With no time to lose, Joel brought up his shotgun and fired off a shot. Another fungal plate was ripped from the fungal giant. The beast was stopped momentarily, shaking it off before resuming its charge towards Joel. He had just enough time to fire off another bullet. The closer proximity resulted in several chunks being blown off in a cloud of gore, but even that was not enough to deter the horrific creature.

Unfortunately the fungal abomination had managed to reach Joel. With a blood-curling howl, it swatted away at the weapon in Joel’s hands, sending the shotgun clattering to the cracked and overgrown pavement. Before he had time to grab another weapon, the Bloater grabbed hold of Joel’s head with both of its enormous hands.

At that moment, Joel’s mind thought back to everything that had led him up to this point. The loss of his daughter, the decades of struggling to survive amidst the collapse of society, meeting Ellie and reluctantly agreeing to smuggle her out of Boston to take her to the Fireflies. Slowly bonding with Ellie and beginning to care for her despite his attempts to keep his walls strong and unbroken. Meeting this mysterious Doctor, and finally realising that there was a way out of this after all. Now that was all about to be wrenched away from him as his jaw was about to be torn apart by the freakishly strong beast, even as he felt one of the fungus-covered hands inch closer towards his mouth.

A sharp blast echoed around the street. An anguished animalistic roar of pain sounded, and Joel felt the creature loosen its grasp on him. He gasped in relief at the near-death experience, as he watched the creature slump to the ground. Wet blood had splattered on his face from the bullet tearing through the fungal horror. But that didn’t matter. What did matter was the fact that the beast now lay dead and unmoving on the floor. He looked back at the car to see Ellie in position, her eye still in the rifle’s scope.

Joel stood there, his mind still processing just how close he’d come to his own demise. He was vaguely aware of the Doctor and Ellie both moving cautiously towards him from opposite ends. Caution that the Bloater might not be fully dead. Luckily as they all came together, all three saw that their eyes were not deceiving them. The monster was not getting back up. For now, they were safe.

“Oh shit, that was intense!” Ellie gasped. “Close call, huh?”

“Yeah,” Joel grunted, reaching to take his rifle back from Ellie. “You did good.”

Ellie’s eyes immediately brightened at the compliment. “Thanks,” she said, genuine warmth in her voice. She didn’t know why she craved his approval, but it made her heart swell on the rare occasions she got it. She brushed the thought aside. In such a dangerous world, it would do her no good to examine her feelings.

“There she is!” Joel and Ellie heard the Doctor exclaim; his relief so strong it was almost palpable. They turned to see him having made his way to the blue box. Now that they were much closer, they could read the signage on top.

_Police Public Call Box_

The blue box was roughly the shape of a telephone box, bearing a slight resemblance to the kind that used to be prevalent in Joel’s adolescence. They were out of date even before the Outbreak, just the sight made him feel nostalgic.

Except, this wasn’t like any telephone box he’d seen before. It was larger, and looked like it was made of wood, painted a regal blue. A lantern sat on top of the box. For what purpose, Joel couldn’t see. Panelled glass acted as windows on the upper portion of the doors. Yet even at his height, Joel didn’t seem to be able to see anything inside. One of the indented panels next to the door handle had some nonsense about responding to calls, but Joel wasn’t interested enough to read it. The same couldn’t be said about Ellie.

“Pull to open?” she read with a confused tone. “You need a reminder on how to open your spaceship?” She quirked an eyebrow at the Doctor, her tone teasing.

“Nothing wrong with handy hints lying about,” the Doctor dismissed before a cheeky grin crossed his face. “Especially if you just ignore them anyway.” He then turned to look at both her and Joel. “Now listen you two. It’s been a pleasure. Really it has.” A genuine smile spread across his face, along an unmistakable hint of apprehension. He hadn’t forgotten Joel’s plan to take his magnificent timeship by force. “But I gotta get going-“ He said hurriedly, quickly turning to put his key in the lock, before he was stopped by a gruff voice behind him.

“Steady on Doc, I ain’t gonna try to steal your ship,” he glanced over at Ellie, not missing the way her eyes lit up, big green orbs shining with appreciation, before he looked back at the Doctor. “This is our world, and we’re stayin’ right here. Figure we got this far, may as well see it through.”

“Fuck yeah!” they both heard Ellie whisper under her breath, and even Joel couldn’t hold back a quiet chuckle.

“Thank you,” the Doctor said, both his tone and expression communicating just how genuine his words were. “I know its not easy, but you’re making the right decision. And making the right decision when the alternative is so tempting, that’s where you really show how strong you are.”

“Hmm,” Joel accepted the Doctor’s compliment with a hum and a shrug. “You best get going, case any more infected show up.”

“Oh, I think if that happened, we’re a good enough team to hold them off,” the Doctor smiled. Not a goofy open-mouthed grin, the kind that he had sported after one of Ellie’s jokes, or after being impressed by the Cordyceps’ genetic structure, but a closed-mouth smile that radiated enough warmth to rival the sun. Although he had smiled plenty over the past few hours, this was by far the most genuine and heartfelt of them all.

Joel laughed. “That we did. You and your noisy pen.”

“Oi!” the Doctor exclaimed in mock offense. “Don’t diss the Sonic!”

“So, is this really goodbye?” Ellie walked up, tugging at her sleeves nervously. She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly before looking up at him with vulnerable eyes, and the Doctor could sense what was plaguing the teen’s mind. As much of an enigma as he had been when he had arrived, he and Ellie had gravitated towards each other through their shared interests. It was clear that the life she and Joel led didn’t allow for much in the way of human interaction with anyone except each other. As hard as it was for him to leave his new friends, he could see that it was even harder for Ellie.

“Oh, never say never Ellie. I might pop back and see you,” he said with a reassuring smile.

“I’d like that,” she gave a sad smile, one that seemed more forced than anything, pulling at the Doctor’s hearts. An idea suddenly occurred to him.

“Oh!” he suddenly shouted, causing both Ellie and Joel to snap their heads in surprise. “Both of you, give me your backpacks.”

“Why?” Joel questioned, a suspicious frown on his face. Ellie looked bemused, though she didn’t voice it.

“I can make some adjustments to make life easier for you,” the Doctor’s excited tone was enough to convince the pair, who both shrugged their backpacks off before handing them over to the Doctor. “Won’t be a tick!” he then pushed open the door to his blue box before dashing inside, deliberately closing the door behind him. The tiny glimpse of the box’s interior caused both Joel and Ellie to gasp in amazement at the fantastical sight.

* * *

Five minutes later the Doctor emerged, carrying both backpacks. From the outside it didn’t look like he’d altered them at all. Perhaps cleaner, with the crusted mud scrubbed off. But aside from improved cleanliness, they looked exactly the same.

“Here we go,” the Doctor announced with a mischievous grin dancing on his lips. Whatever he had done to them, it was clear he was rather proud of it, if only he would actually tell them.

“What did you do?” Joel cast a wary glance his way.

“Go on, open them and find out!” the Doctor replied with a cheerful tone, as though he were a parent giving out a Christmas present which would surely be well received.

Joel slipped a hand inside his backpack and gasped. Instead of his fingers finding the bottom of the bag like he expected to, his fingers kept falling further and further until they finally brushed against the bottom. It was as if the bag was twice as large as it looked, but it couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible.

But then again, neither was a man arriving from a parallel universe. Until it was.

There wasn’t much left in the world that could surprise the gruff, grizzled man, but this definitely counted as one of the most incredible things he’d encountered in the past two decades.

“Holy shit!” Ellie gasped as she felt inside her own backpack. Unlike Joel, she wasn’t one to hold back her emotions. Her eyes sparkled with wonderment as she looked up to meet the Doctor’s eyes, her lips parted in a pleasant shock.

The Time Lord grinned at the sight of the two humans before him. Joel, staring in stunned silence, but a long-forgotten amazement fighting to break through in his eyes. Ellie, with her barely-restrained awe all over her face, from eyebrows raising so high they were threatening to take off into orbit, to her shining green orbs, to her ‘O’ shaped mouth. But the Doctor had one more trick up his sleeve.

“I put a little something extra in yours Ellie, feel around for it.”

He watched as Ellie continued to dig around in her backpack. He looked so pleased with himself that Joel could see the excitement fighting to break free.

The teen gasped as her fingers brushed against paper. “What the fuck is this?!” Ellie squealed as she pulled out a large stack of comic books, her voice full of childlike wonder, as though Santa had just given her everything she could have ever asked for. Her expression was giddy with glee, a smile so radiant that nothing could dull its light. “It’s a motherfucking comic book collection!” she exclaimed with pure exhilaration.

Ellie shifted through the pile. She’d never heard of most of them, but they looked exciting as fuck. She could not wait to pour through the contents. She looked back up at the Doctor. “I…I don’t know what to say,” she stuttered, completely at a loss for words.

Sure, Joel would pick up any comic they happened to stumble across when scavenging long abandoned houses, but they were too few and far between. Not to mention that they were random issues, not guaranteed to be connected in an ongoing plotline. However these ones, they appeared to part of a complete set, forming a large volume ready for her consumption.

“Thank you Doctor,” Ellie finally managed, “so fucking much.” In any other tone, the words could be misconstrued as sarcastic. But with the sparkle in her green orbs, the wonderment tugging at the corners of her astonished smile, and the soft honesty tinging the words. All of it told just how grateful she was for the gift. She was brimming with so much excited energy that she couldn’t stop her feet from bouncing up and down.

“You’re welcome Ellie,” the Doctor smiled warmly. “Just do one thing for me. Work on that foul mouth of yours, eh?”

Ellie giggled, and even Joel couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “No promises alien man.”

“Oh, well don’t say I didn’t try,” the Doctor retorted, voice tinged with levity before turning to look at both of them. “Now then, those backpacks of yours are bigger on the inside.”

“Like your spaceship?” Joel tilted his head and pointed at the blue box, enjoying the stunned expression on the Doctor’s face as he looked at the box and then back at Joel. “Yeah, we caught a little glimpse as you closed the door.”

“Oh yes, just like the TARDIS. Except your bags still aren’t infinite. You can just fit twice as much in them as you could before.”

“I imagine that’ll weigh us down,” Joel rubbed his unkempt beard.

The Doctor looked puzzled for a split second before he widened his eyes and shook his head. “Oh no don’t worry about that! I think you’ll find that even when they’re full, they’ll still be lighter than before.”

Joel narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “How?”

“Magic,” the Doctor teased. “Also dimensional engineering.”

“Hmm,” Joel nodded, deciding that he didn’t really need to know the science behind whatever it was the eccentric man had done. He figured that was best left to scientists, which he mostly certainly was not. “Well Doc,” he stuck his hand out. “Today was certainly something.”

“It certainly was,” the Time Lord agreed, grasping Joel’s hand and shaking it with enthusiasm. “But if I might ask, what persuaded you to change your mind?”

Joel frowned, a small wave of shame washing over him. It took him a few moments before he met the Doctor’s eyes again.

“I thought about what you said. An’ you were right. After what I’ve seen the world go through over the past twenty years, I wouldn’t wish the Cordyceps on any other world. No version of Earth deserves that, and I’m certainly not going to let history repeat itself.” Joel then motioned over to Ellie. “Besides, we gotta try an’ fix this one.”

“Definitely,” Ellie interjected with a vigorous nod in affirmation. “I’m immune for a reason, and I couldn’t walk away even I wanted to. Not without trying to provide a cure.”

A proud smile graced the Doctor’s features. Of all the people he could have encountered on this parallel version of Earth, he had never been as glad that the two he’d come across were Ellie and Joel. “A brave and noble gesture Ellie. I really hope it works out. Another reason for me to come back.” He then turned to look at both of them. “Like I said, it was a total pleasure. Now, you’ll like this bit.” He grinned excitedly before closing the door behind him, leaving Joel and Ellie standing there in confusion.

A groaning sound emanated from the blue box, accompanied by a sudden gust of wind that appeared to be generated from the spaceship. The two travellers watched in stunned awe as the lantern began to shine atop before the blue box faded before their very eyes! It was even more weird and wonderful than anything dreamt up in the comic books she’d read. The groaning, wheezing pitch of the engines rose and fell in time to the flashing of the lantern, the fantastical timeship fading in and out, getting less opaque and more translucent with each cycle. After several seconds the blue box faded out of existence for the last time, leaving Joel and Ellie stood there in amazed silence, even Joel failing to hide his astonishment.

After a minute of comfortable silence as their minds processed the outlandish sight they’d just borne witness to, Ellie slung her backpack tighter on her shoulder. “So, Tommy’s?”

Joel laughed, much clearer, louder and mightier than Ellie had ever heard him laugh before. It was a sound she hoped she’d hear much more of in the future. “Yeah, we better get movin’.”

“I’m starving!” Ellie complained in an overly dramatic way with a deliberately pronounced sigh.

“We can eat later. Let’s just make sure we’re outta town. Jackson ain’t too far off.”

The two strode along the road taking them out of town, taking them ever closer to their destination. Just another day in their long journey had turned out to be the most extraordinary day in either of their lives. The fact that they’d encountered a traveller not just from beyond the stars, but beyond their own universe, gave them hope. They weren’t as alone as they had thought.

The Doctor had reminded Joel that no matter what, they had something to fight for. No matter how bleak things could get, he wasn’t going to abandon that fight.

Ellie had been sure before, but now she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that one day after this was all over and the human race were made immune because of her, she would make it into space.

For now though, they had to find the Fireflies. They had to look for the light. At least their journey would be made easier with bigger on the inside backpacks which were lighter on the outside. Ellie was already calculating how many bricks she could fit inside now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is now over! What did you think? Was it a satisfactory conclusion? I hope the puns were good enough, feel free to tell me what your favourite was.
> 
> If you enjoyed reading, please consider leaving kudos and typing a comment. Getting feedback makes me super happy, and I'm interested to know what you made of this. Even if you didn't enjoy it, feel free to leave polite constructive criticism about what I did wrong, as I am always trying to improve.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I really hope you enjoyed it! :)
> 
> P.S. Would anyone be interested in a sequel? Feel free to let me know or leave suggestions.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for sticking to the end! What did you think? Was this an enjoyable read? Did I do the characters justice? Or was it lacking?
> 
> Please tell me what you thought in the comments! If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a kudo and telling me what you liked in the comments. Even if there were parts you didn't like, I'd appreciate any constructive criticism.
> 
> If it was unclear, this takes place in between the Suburbs and Tommy's Dam chapters of the first game. This chapter was from the Doctor's perspective, but the next chapter will be from Joel and Ellie's perspective.
> 
> Anyway, I hope everyone is well and staying safe! :)
> 
> You can find me on social media @ahunter8056 on both Twitter and Tumblr.
> 
> Until next time! :)


End file.
